The interaction between the Player Types is quite interesting, but keep in mind that griefing is a Killer trait. Extensive studies show that to have a stable population of Killers, there needs to be a substantial non-majority of non-Killers and if I recall correctly, the only Player Type to happily co-exist with Killers are Explorers, all of this because of the griefing trait.
Extra Credits covers this topic quite a few times. It’s worth checking out.
I personally don’t think someone is a single player type, but they shift around between several depending on what they want at that moment, but it works for study purposes to look at the four types as if they are discreet people.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
@thenomain Well part of the problem is that people don't fit into any niche completely. I enjoy PvP, I do not enjoy 'griefing'. I am pretty anti-griefer. As much as we try to put people into clearly labelled boxes, we are not boxes.
Hello! Long time listener, first time caller...
Why is this a problem? I think it's a downright tautology by now: When we talk about reality, "it depends" is always a valid comment.
Also, do not mistake "all griefers are Killers" to mean "all Killers are griefers".
Also also also, here is Extra Credit's episode on Bartle's Taxonomy, a good summary of what we're talking about for people who don't know.
This is also a good run-up to its follow-up episode on how the player types interact where the meat of the discussion and our hobby really starts hitting this model.
Also, by their interpretation, or by the oldest definition, Killers are griefers. It seems like those who "act on the world" is being defined as Explorers, but hey, terminology drift is a thing.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
@thenomain Agreed.
Personally I like to view the categories like movie genres. You may have a favorite, but most people like more than one genre to varying degrees and at different times. And sometimes a movie doesn't fit neatly into a box and you end up with "dramedy".
Nevertheless, it's a convenient short-hand. In games, it can lead you to good considerations about what sorts of things might appeal to different interests and how those interests can cooperate and compete.
@faraday There's a... I dunno how apt this is, because a lot of these were very 'coin toss' or 'no interest in either' or 'both/neither have appeal', but there's a quiz on this.
http://matthewbarr.co.uk/bartle/
I ended up with: You are 87% Socialiser, 73% Explorer, 40% Achiever, 0% Killer
Sorta interesting, and not super surprising results. With slightly more MUSH-style options (vs. the more MMO/MUD options it has), it could potentially be more accurate a tool for (generic) us.
@Thenomain I haven't been going from any of the later analysis on that; there's a bit in the original that's this: "On the flip side, Killers also represent the archetype which is most interested in affecting their environment, so sandbox games in which they can take a direct hand in building (or destroying) a virtual society will appeal to them as well."
Oh fucking well.
@surreality Yeah a lot of the options were, like... "meh, neither". But I got 80% achiever / 73% socializer, which fits pretty well. On a MUSH my "achiever" gene takes the form of achieving the story/character goals rather than achieving levels or points though.
@faraday Yeah, same. A lot of the 'do you want a lot of gold?!' or 'DO YOU WANT THE BESTEST WEAPONS EVAR?' things were just like... 'that is just not even a thing, uh... B?'.
It might be interesting to figure out one of these more tailored to MUSH/MUX/etc. just to get a feel for things some time.
It's also a little funny to me because while I love love love socializing in the sense of talking theory and concepts in a space like this -- brainstorming, essentially -- I am... not so much into the 'getting to know everybody's personal business' at all, and while I'm open to a degree, uh... I'm pretty cagey about more than may be apparent as a default. Like, I could go months without reading Tastes Less Gamey and not bat an eyelash, but I get the pangs re: Mildly Constructive or the gaming subject forums if I'm away for a few days.
Oh fucking well.
@surreality I invariably get Achiever/Killer because I am like that: I will amass enough gold in a MMO (not a MU) to afford to fight others.
I did it on Ultima Online in one of those free shards that exist based on T2A. I got a quicksilver relic, sold it for 40M and spent my money buying PvP gear and training up chars.
I had fun while it lasted, but I lost my house and about 24M of gear so I called it quits, especially as I was focusing on real life pursuits at the time.
@deadculture I'm seriously trying to think of ways of writing up a poll for the wiki I'm working on that'd -- at least loosely -- work off of these types, and potentially steer people toward features that might best suit the type-based interest profile. I don't know if I can pull that off, but it strikes me as something that might be worth a shot at some point further down the road.
If nothing else, it may be a good thing to point out something even more basic, like 'based on your primary interests, this game might not be a good fit for you for reasons; you are more than welcome here and we'd like to find ways to ensure you have fun, but please be aware that this might not be the kind of game you're looking for'.
The bartle test has a lot of questions that don't really appeal to me one way or the other but... it gave me:
73% Achiever
53% Explorer
47% Killer
27% Socializer
I think my definition of the 'killer' archetype may be different than there's perhaps.
Hello! Long time listener, first time caller...
In short, I guess I'm a sociopath when it comes to gaming.
@surreality said in Internet Attacks? Why?:
A: "Come fight me bro, I'm at <not his address!>"
B: <contacts C> "Yo, SWAT this address! <provides address provided by A>"
<SWATs address>
All three have a part of the responsibility here. A shouldn't be getting a pass.
Yeah just to clarify my previously unclear viewpoint, I believe B and C in the above should be prosecuted, A while landing on my list of kinda skuzzy people, I don't think should face charges, not because I think his actons were alright, I thinkthey were deplorable but because there in enough in the middle that he really isn't a proximate cause. (I think I remember that being a thing from my business law classes)
Double post but really on a different topic than the previous one. Took the barltes test and got the results I would have expected.
73 % socializer
73 % explorer
27 % killer
27 % achiever
This seems about right what draws me to games with other people is the interaction with them, both RP and OOC chatting, what draws me to games with out other people is the learning about the world and the story. And I do still explore MU grids to find any hidden cool spots out there to RP that others might miss.
Been probably ten years since I took a bartle test, so did it again and got:
93% Achiever
47% Explorer
33% Socializer
27% Killer
I vaguely remember having 100% achiever when I was younger and no killer at all, so maybe I'm getting meaner in my old age, I have no idea.
87% Socialiser
53% Explorer
47% Achiever
13% Killer
I'd be really interested in a test that's more geared towards MU*s. Someone make one!
73% Explorer
67% Socialiser
40% Achiever
20% Killer
By definition, I guess coding is exploring?
80% Explorer
73% Socialiser
47% Achiever
0% Killer
I probably could have predicted that, just based on the explanations of type, though.
Huh, I took the test a couple of times, because the first result that I got seemed wildly out-of-sorts for me (87% socializer, very little Achiever or Killer, when I know that I enjoy both of those roles). Apparently there is an array of questions for (at least) the first section. Which questions I got varied my results quite a lot.
Does this make me an Explorer because I wanted to test it, a Socializer because I wanted to get my place in the social structure right, a Killer because I wanted to make it do what I thought was right, or an Achiever because I wanted the "right" score?
Meh.
Was curious, but does touch on my programming love.
93% Explorer
53% Achiever
33% Killer
20% Socialiser
Yeah, questions seem geared more to MMRPGs or MUDs but...
You are 80% Socialiser
67% Explorer
40% Achiever
13% Killer
@thenomain Well part of the problem is that people don't fit into any niche completely. I enjoy PvP, I do not enjoy 'griefing'. I am pretty anti-griefer. As much as we try to put people into clearly labelled boxes, we are not boxes.
